Posts Tagged ‘Portland Trail Blazers’

March 31, 2015 · 9:29AM

ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — If you were a fan of, say, Portland Trail Blazers center Chris Kaman, what are some of the ways you could show people that you were a Kaman fan? You could wear a Chris Kaman jersey, perhaps, or maybe you could get one of those t-shirts with Kaman’s name and number printed on the back.

Or you could do what this enterprising fan did last night for the Portland/Phoenix game, which is show up in a sweatshirt with Chris Kaman’s face blown up larger than life on both sides of the shirt. Imagine sitting somewhere near that fan at the game and never being able to avoid to gigantic glassy-eyed, soulless stare of Chris Kaman.

We are clearly in a golden age of point guards in the NBA.

And then you have Damian Lillard, a well-rounded point guard who hasn’t met a paint he can’t penetrate, nor a rim he can’t detonate.

Just take a look at what he’s been able to do this season when he puts himself in position to finish at the basket. I’m sure every opponent’s game plan makes the note, but it begs repeating: You have to keep Lillard out of the paint. Or trouble awaits.

March 26, 2015 · 10:31AM

ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — Have you ever taken a bad vacation? Hey, sometimes it happens — perhaps there’s a travel snafu, or you get to the beach and it rains the entire time, or maybe your hotel room is right by the elevator and you can’t get any peace and quiet. Then again, a vacation is a vacation — sometimes just getting away from home is worth any amount of trouble. Several members of the Portland Trail Blazers were asked if they had ever taken a bad vacation, and some of these stories are pretty awful. I mean, Damian Lillard almost dying has nothing on the stuff I mentioned above…

March 25, 2015 · 9:09AM

ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — The Portland Trail Blazers have a car-shaped blimp that flies around inside the arena and presumably drops gifts (t-shirts, coupons, etc.) to the crowd. Which is fun and a blast, except when it isn’t. Like a few months ago, when the car crashed into the stands, giving fans a very, very close look at the blimp.

And if there were any fans who didn’t get a great look at the blimp then, hopefully they were at the Moda Center last night when the Blazers hosted the Warriors, because the blimp once again decided to take a seat and watch some basketball…

March 24, 2015 · 9:35AM

ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — The long-running battle between Robin Lopez and mascots around the NBA reached some sort of a breaking point last week, when the mascots, fed up with being beaten down by Robin Lopez, struck a stinging psychological blow. As we saw then, Cavs mascot Moondog attempted to drive a wedge within the Lopez family by befriending Robin’s brother Brook. When he saw the evidence, Robin reacted angrily on social media…

And it didn’t take Lopez long to start taking out his aggression on NBA mascots. A few days later, in Orlando, after light provocation from Stuff, the Magic mascot, Lopez hit him with a modified belly-to-belly suplex…

Then, in Memphis during pregame warmups, Grizzlies mascot Griz offered Lopez an olive branch…accompanied by a “KICK ME” sign on his back.

March 20, 2015 · 10:01AM

ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — The Portland Trail Blazers may have lost Wesley Matthews for the rest of the season and postseason, but they’re hanging in there, 7-3 in the last 10 games. Regardless of how they’re playing, the Blazers have always had some of the League’s best fan support, because of fans like the ones in the video below. At a recent Portland game, a couple of lifelong Blazers fans held a surprise wedding ceremony as the players warmed up on the court a few feet away. Congrats to them, and watch for the surprise guest appearance at end of the ceremony…

March 19, 2015 · 9:13AM

ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — We’ve dutifully chronicled the story of Portland’s Robin Lopez and his long-running hatred of mascots. These furry friends have tried their best to make nice, but Robin just keeps bringing the pain to mascots around the NBA.

A photo posted by Moondog (@cavsmoondog) on Mar 18, 2015 at 1:38pm PDT

If the mascots can’t get Robin on their side, perhaps they can at least cause a schism within the Lopez family and cause psychological trouble? A strategic masterstroke from the mascots? A one-time letdown from Brook?

March 16, 2015 · 10:07AM

ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — We’ve spent a lot of time chronicling Portland center Robin Lopez and his reign of violence against mascots. This weekend that battle went north of the border, as the Blazers took on the Toronto Raptors. During the game, the Raptors mascot strayed a little too close to a Portland huddle — and for some reason, Atlanta mascot Harry the Hawk was there, as well — and Robin Lopez decided it was time to strike. Sure, the Raptor may have been wearing a Lopez wig, but is that really cause for violence?

March 5, 2015 · 8:56AM

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ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — With the score tied, the Clippers had the final shot last night, and a chance to beat the Portland Trail Blazers in regulation. Chris Paul missed a shot, and the ball fell to DeAndre Jordan, standing under the basket, and Jordan… didn’t shoot?

I think what happened was Jordan heard the buzzer and thought the game was over. Only it was the shot clock buzzer instead. Either way, Jordan didn’t get a shot off. (And the worst thing? The Clips ended up losing in overtime.)

But it wasn’t for a lack of trying from Chris Paul. Check out Paul here in slow motion doing his best to urge Jordan to shoot…

March 2, 2015 · 10:09AM

ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — How do you celebrate a birthday? If you’re a mascot, like Sacramento Kings mascot Slamson, you invite a bunch of your mascot friends over to hang out for a game, and you all take turns entertaining the crowd.